Harvey Weinstein dodges federal charges in New York

Jazz ShawPosted at 12:31 pm on November 26, 2018

Harvey Weinstein may be breathing a sigh of relief this morning and adding one more thing to his list of items to be thankful for during this season. Manhattan’s district attorney had determined that the government won’t be filing charges against the film mogul on a number of counts they’ve been investigating. But before you dust off your Me Too protest signs and take to the streets, these aren’t the charges related to rape and sexual assault which landed him in hot water in the first place. This aspect of the case was more technical and questioned whether or not he had committed financial improprieties in paying some of his victims to remain silent. (Page Six)

Harvey Weinstein just dodged another bullet.

The Manhattan district attorney won’t be bringing a financial crimes case against the once-mighty film mogul, The Post has learned.

Authorities served more than two dozens subpoenas demanding documents from the Weinstein Company, Miramax and two law firms that represented him and his company, the sources said.

One of Weinstein’s attorneys released a statement saying they were “not surprised” the charges were dismissed because they’ve been saying he was not guilty all along. In all cases where women were paid money as part of a non-disclosure agreement, Harvey apparently either paid them directly out of his own pocket or, if the funds came from one of his companies, he reimbursed the company in a timely fashion and was able to provide records to back that up.

That doesn’t mean he’s in the clear yet, however. Those were relatively minor charges compared to the allegations of predatory assault, rape and sexual assault. One analyst described the financial charges as a “back-up case” in the event that the sexual assault charges fell apart. And we can’t rule that out yet. Weinstein can afford some of the best attorneys in the business and last month they convinced a judge to drop the most serious charges against him stemming from the alleged assault of actress Lucia Evans.

His attorneys have other motions before the judges in these cases seeking to have most or all of the charges against him dismissed. It seems unlikely in the extreme, but if all the cards fall his way in court, Harvey Weinstein could still walk without being convicted of any sexual assaults, despite more than 70 women lining up to testify against him. If that’s the end result you can bet that the next women’s march in the Big Apple will include pitchforks and torches.